Aldi's UK holiday sales top £1 billion for the first time
Aldi's holiday sales in the United Kingdom topped £1 billion ($1.3 billion) for the first time in 2019, after the discount retailer added dozens of new stores and shoppers feasted on booze and meat deals.
Posted — UpdatedThe UK division of the German retailer said in a statement Monday that sales for the four weeks to December 24 increased 7.9% compared to the same period the previous year.
The privately-owned chain did not disclose same-store sales, a common measure of retail performance, but said it opened 53 stores during 2019. Aldi also said it upped its share of UK grocery market sales to 8%.
Aldi opened its first UK store in 1990 and is now the country's fifth biggest grocery chain. It currently has 874 UK locations and said it remains on track to achieve its target of 1,200 stores by 2025.
The company has deployed its trademark low-cost business model to entice customers away from bigger UK chains, including Tesco and Sainsbury's.
Aldi's rapid expansion saw it invest £531 million ($698 million) in opening 71 new stores in the United Kingdom and Ireland in 2018. Sales that year increased 11% to £11.3 billion ($14.9 billion) but the investment weighed on profits, which declined 20% to £138 million ($181 million).
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The chain has made a similarly aggressive push into the US market, where it plans to have 2,500 stores by 2022. That would make it the third largest grocery chain in America behind only Walmart and Kroger.
Demand for booze, premium products and meat drove December sales in the United Kingdom, Aldi said. Beer, wine and spirits sales increased 9.2% over last year, while premium products and British meat each grew 8%.
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